The present invention relates to a surface preparation apparatus (SPA) for asphalt, concrete and other road surfaces, and in particular to a surface preparation apparatus which can be towed by various vehicles, which can be offset with respect to the direction of towing, and which can be adjusted in three axes. The preferred SPA is an asphalt reclaiming unit for being towed behind a truck of other prime mover.
Road surfaces, particularly asphalt road surfaces form a majority of road surfaces in the United States. Asphalt is also used in other applications, such as parking lots, biking paths and walking paths. A problem with asphalt is that is has a limited, useful life. When that useful life has been exceeded, the surface must be replaced or rehabilitated. Often, it is not desirable or cost effective to rehabilitate the entire road surface, particularly when only portions or segments of a paved section have deteriorated. As a result, the road surface is allowed to continue to deteriorate until use of a conventional full surface resurfacing unit becomes cost effective. The need to wait until the use of conventional resurfacing units becomes cost effective, results in temporary repairs such as patching, which are not as desirable as resurfacing. However, without a more cost effective manner resurfacing small areas, or portions of larger areas, resurfacing which might otherwise be completed if smaller, more flexible resurfacing units were available, will be delayed. Furthermore, there will be a tendency to redo surfaces which might not need to be done because only larger areas can be accommodated by the larger conventional units. Conventional units tend to be very large and heavy. They are often self propelled or attached to existing vehicle frames. The power for such units is generally supplied by one unit which means that some of the power is used to drive the vehicle and some of the power is used in the surface treatment apparatus. For this reason, those units are very slow. In addition, they can only be used to resurface large areas. It will be appreciated, therefore, that a need exists for a device for moving at greater speeds and preparing on a variety of surfaces such as shoulders, crowns, transitions, pipe lines, pot holes and the like.
Accordingly, it will be appreciated that there is a need for an efficient way of resurfacing asphalt, concrete and other surfaces used for roadways, walkways, parking lots and the like. The present invention provides advantages over the prior devices and the prior methods used to resurface these and other surfaces, and also offers other advantages over the prior art and solves other problems associated therewith.